Fouling the Water and Trampling the Food
That’s my post today on the Worldprayr blog. It’s based on parts of Ezekiel 34.
Orbiting the Hairball
United Methodist district superintendent (Grand Rapids District) Laurie Haller takes a cue from a book on surviving in a corporate environment to make some suggestions for United Methodist leadership in her post Orbiting the UMC Hairball 4-12-10. Amongst other things she notes: The whispered truth is that The United Methodist Church suppresses creativity and genius…
Worldview Weekend on John Piper and Rick Warren
John Piper is a Calvinist, and I am so totally not, but I have a deep respect for him, in spite of many disagreements. That respect has been increased lately by his actions, both in taking a leave from his ministry and in inviting Rick Warren to speak at the Desiring God conference. It happens…
Glenn Beck is Right – He Should Run from Social Justice
Why? My pastor, Geoffrey Lentz, says it’s because following Jesus in social justice is hard and demanding and might mess up our lifestyes: What would happen if we “let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everlasting stream” (Amos)? It wouldn’t work out very well for me. This one hits us right where…
Harvest of Souls International Ministries Web Site
Via Dave Black Online and Nick’s blog I found that biblioblogger Nick Norelli’s church, Harvest of Souls International Ministries, has a new web site. Now why do I link to this particular church web site at this moment? Is it merely to congratulate them? Well, I do congratulate them, but I had something more specific…
Quote of the Day
From the Wesley Report: Mainline Protestant Christianity has become known for leaving people in slavery, because somewhere along the way, our strategy changed from leading people out of Egypt to planting churches along the Nile. And that’s why mainline denominations continue to lose members. People don’t need churches to help them stay in slavery– they…
How About Planting a Church?
That’s what Allan Bevere suggests as the ordination process, based on his experience in Cuba. I find the idea attractive, at least for certain types of ministry. There might be other ways to test various gifts. It does relate to a problem I’ve noted amongst United Methodist ministers, many of whom come out of seminary…
What Would a Successful UMC Look Like?
Ex-UMC, now megachurch pastor Craig Groeschel offers six suggestions for the United Methodist Church, packaged in six brief blog posts. I think that there is much worth considering in his suggestions, though I don’t think they are generally all that new. There’s something that bothers me in the whole discussion, however. In practically every debate…
Answering a Question on Egalitarianism
I already responded to one post by Michael Patton on this topic (Am I a Complementarian?), but he followed this up with a question. I have been so busy with the release of my latest book (co-authored with Geoffrey Lentz) that I have fallen well behind the progress of this topic, but I still want…
Am I a Complementarian?
Michael Patton has taken it upon himself to define both complementarianism and egalitarianism and I think he gets it almost completely wrong. Now I must note that I really like reading Michael Patton’s blog posts and I think he writes with an irenic tone that promotes Christian unity, and in the end he does that…